We didn't rust in iron country!

July 12, 2006 (7:37am)
63º F, Partly cloudy, N wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Home again. What a wonderful time and weather. We really had a good time. Our goal was the Porcupine Mountain State Wilderness area in Upper Michigan. We achieved that goal. The end of the road is Lake of the Clouds, shown here. We drove to the top of the escarpment to access the outlook area. What a beautiful vista spread before us. You can see for miles and the lake is beautiful. Bet it is really pretty in the fall when the leaves turn colors!

I had been in the Porky’s in 1971 (I think) with my Girl Scout troop on a 10 day backpacking trip. I was interested to see any changes since I was there last. There are changes. Not in God’s creation, but the access humans have made into it. Now the Jeep trails that were most of the roads in the area and now mostly comfortable two-lane blacktop highways; the tails we walked now have boardwalks and stairways, rather than nice gentle (and not so gentle) trails; and more people in the area. I really would have appreciated the trails rather than stairs my right knee has problems going down stairs. Inclines work much better for me. All of the boardwalks and connecting stairs seem to be a rather recent feature. One thing it does control the places the additional people walk in the wilderness area. I would expect that they disappear as you really get into the 159,000 acres of the wilderness though.

The park and surrounding area is still stunning. Michigan has done a very good job on preserving the park area. There is a multiplicity of rivers, creeks, waterfalls, hills, and truly wild areas without any buildings of any kind. The waterfalls are a huge attraction in this part of the state and we stopped to see only a very few of them within the park. They were very much worth the walk, up and down. Margriet seemed to think she was in heaven with all of the opportunities to take pictures and to look at everything possible. There is a lot to see. We only saw a fraction of it. Both of us decided it would be a good place to stay.

We left church a bit early Sunday and headed out. There was a serious storm to the northwest, with a projected path of our intended route. By leaving early, we hoped to get north of it without having any problems. We almost made it around, getting in on only a couple of light showers. For once the "plan" worked. I wasn’t sure where we would end up for the night, depending on weather and old bodies getting tired, so had done some research on the web for lodging the day before. It really paid off! We had excellent motels and very reasonable rates, by today’s standards. We stayed the first night in Ironwood, Michigan in a motel with a huge room and many amenities. More than the Super 8's we normally try to stay in, and about $15.00/night cheaper than the Super 8 down the street. In room refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker (most important), two recliners, two tables, desk, and the other normal things motel rooms have.

My original plan was to wander around the Pork’s all day on Monday and end the day in Ontonagon at a motel. Wasn’t to be. Didn’t find any on the net before leaving and none when we arrived there. So we headed in the direction of home, thinking we would might find something along the way. I had two motels in Iron River and that is finally where we ended up. The day was actually too many hours on the road and walking for us, but we survived. The motel was great! U.S. highway #2 had moved since the motel was built, so was a bit off of the beaten track. Eventually we did find it and was well worth the search. The room we had was really half of a small building. The motel is on the shores of Ice Lake with all of the windows in our "room" overlooking the lake. Again it was a very large room and very nicely appointed at a reasonable rate to boot. The owner could not figure out how we found the place. I mentioned the website and suggested she put a map on the site too to make it easier to find. Sounds like she will!

We got home in time to stop at the postoffice and then to Grandma’s Place for an early supper. We ate a late but big breakfast and no lunch, so were some hungry. Everything here is as we left it, except for the longer lawn needing cutting. Other than emptying the van, checking the emails, we didn’t go much more. It was tired out and good to be home again.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><